Journal

US Women’s Hockey Rallies

US Women’s Hockey rallies to defeat Finland – Goaltender Noora Raty saw Hilary Knight with the puck on her stick and moved to defend against the dangerous American.

Knight passed the puck, Kendall Coyne scored the go-ahead goal at 11:29 of the second period on a one-timer and the United States rallied to beat Finland 3-1 to remain perfect when opening an Olympic tournament.

“Knighter got there out of the corner, I need to commit to her because she’s the best shot in the world,” Raty said. “So for once she actually passed, and hats off to Coyner. She went top shelf. Really nice goal.”

Mon the Americans improved to 6-0 all-time in Olympic openers. They also improved to 7-0 against Finland in the Olympics, though the world’s third-ranked team made the defending world champions work hard in a chippy game.

Hovi Venla scored on a wrist shot from the slot with 5.8 seconds left in the first period, giving the Finns the lead and a reason to celebrate going into intermission. U.S. coach Robb Stauber said they had three players around but somehow missed Venla.

“It’s great to be able to make a mistake like that and still get a win because on any given night a mistake like that can hurt you,” Stauber said. “It didn’t. It brings a level awareness to what we’ve talked about.”

A four-time Olympian and two-time NCAA champion at Minnesota, Raty stopped all 11 shots she faced in the first, but the Americans picked up the pressure in the second.